Can someone help me help my friend? - Smoking Cessation Message Board

XxLilmeKristy32xX · 07-04-2003, 12:58 AM

Hi Everyone!

Today i was with my friend. Shes 17, and she has been smoking since she was 15! Her Mom lets her do it and everything. Well today we were driving, and she started to smoke, she smokes one after another it seems like. She told me that she seems to get light headed after she smokes! I told her to quit but she wont listens to me. She told me that she gets light headed, feels like shes gonna get sick sometimes, and sometimes get gets hungry after she smokes too. Today we must have stoped at McDonalds for her today like 6-7 times!! I dont know what to do and im worried for her! Can someone please help me, help her? i dont know what to tell her at all.

Dan1979 · 07-07-2003, 09:51 PM

hi.
Im 24 years old so I probably can relate. I just quit cold turkey 3 weeks ago. I started when I was 19. Quiting is not easy or hard. The ansewer is in will power. She has to want to do it, and you do have a challenge with her because her mom condones it.

The dizziness is probably the nicotine buzz she is getting. If she feels sick, A)she should quit. B)it may be easier for her to quit since her body may not be accepting the cigs like most peoples bodies do.

You seem like a good friend to her. My advice.....tell her to go to [url="http://WWW.ASK.COM"]WWW.ASK.COM[/url] and do a search for lung cancer. It may wake her up.

Lung cancer rarely happens under 40 but scare her a bit and tell her it could happen at a young age.....but remember she has to want to do it. it will be easier for her than it was for me....i smoked 5 years a pack a day and i am an active club/bar goer in chicago so i am around alchol and smoke every weekend.

when you quit smoking you feel much better!!!!!

good luck....and write back if you have any more questions.

Dannyboy

Sundance_Dawn · 07-10-2003, 04:25 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by XxLilmeKristy32xX:
She told me that she seems to get light headed after she smokes! I told her to quit but she wont listens to me. She told me that she gets light headed, feels like shes gonna get sick sometimes, and sometimes get gets hungry after she smokes too. Today we must have stoped at McDonalds for her today like 6-7 times!!

Are you sure your friend just smokes cigarettes? Nicotine tends to suppress the appetite, whereas weed/hash tends to induce "munchies" - it's legal where I grew up (only over 18 though) but one girl in my high school started smoking the stuff when she was 15 and she literally ballooned from getting the munchies all the time!

The increase of appetite is also why it's prescribed to terminal cancer/AIDS patients as it stops nausea and makes them hungry.

If she realyl is just smoking tobacco, maybe she has some other problems (eating disorder?) going on? It's not normal for cigarettes to make you hungry, and its DEFINITELY not normal for someone to pop into Mc D's several times a day - not only is she huerting her body with tobacco but also torturing it with unhealthy, fattening food!

Instead of getting on her case and annoying her about her smoking (that only makes things worse) be there for her and try to find out whether anything is bothering her. You can't MAKE her quit, that is something only she can do, and she has to WANT to quit, too. She can't do that without being 100% commited to it!

[This message has been edited by Sundance_Dawn (edited 07-10-2003).]

cuppa t · 07-21-2003, 07:50 AM

You're right Sundance!!
your friend won't quit until she wants to! I was a smoker for 40 years, didn't even want to TRY to quit, i enjoyed it too much. Then my kids kept getting on at me, but the final straw was when the Dr told my hubby he has the beginnings of emphysema, (for which there is no cure) and eventually would have to carry a honking great tank of oxygen around with him. It was then we both decided to quit. Went on Zyban and been 'clean' now for 3 months. Your friend hasn't been smoking long enough to be that addicted, might be she just wants attention. cuppa